Out of the Loop
by AlithiaSigma
Summary: This is the human's first time in the Underground. ...Right? And yet it seems they're the only one who doesn't know what's going to happen... Or are they? ...What happened to Flowey? This is a story about resets, and Sans is in it a lot. He's in a lot of stories about resets.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I expect certain questions. Some of them would only be answered with "Really now? Maybe you should think a bit more carefully about that. Perhaps check again." Yet others will be answered with "Because it actually does make sense" and a few non-questions with "And? I don't really see the problem here."

With luck, some replies will be "Thank you" or "I plan to" or "I certainly hope so."

If none of these responses fit to what you want to say, then you really should say it.

Of course, just because I've responded already doesn't mean you can't say it.

I like reviews. Most writers do.

* * *

It started with Toriel. She'd introduced herself as such for the first time, but treated them as if they've known each other for years.

"I'm making butterscotch-cinnamon pie. It may not have been what you were expecting, but I'm sure you'll like it nonetheless. I can tell you haven't stay put as I asked, and though I'd hope to convince you to, I suppose there's nothing that can change your mind." They hadn't walked twenty paced into the Ruins before Toriel had called to say that. It was as she were watching them. Or had read their mind.

They walked through the Ruins, determined to make it through. The monsters, the Froggits, the Whimsums, the Loox _..._ all greeted them with a smile, or a wave, when possible, as if they knew them, but they still had to check with the voice in their mind what the monsters were.

The puzzles were quite fun, and though they were simple, the human took delight in figuring each one out. They'd rather liked the puzzle with the spikes that collapsed when stepped on, and thought the puzzle about not stepping on the leaves was clever, though they'd wondered how the leaves would stay in place if people continued to fall in and walk out.

When they came to the sign proclaiming that three in four rocks recommended that one push them, they wondered what it meant. The rock in that room was quite easy to push, weighing less than they'd expected, so they thought little of having to push three more rocks. What they did not expect, however was for the third rock in the room to protest while they pushed it, complaining that it didn't like being pushed around, but didn't want to bother arguing with someone who wouldn't listen anyways. And though it was true that the human didn't intend to simply leave the rock unpushed, they were a bit miffed that it would make such assumptions.

However, despite its protest and threats, the rock stayed where it was, and did not move from the switch, allowing the child to pass through the room's puzzle unharmed.

Soon, they encountered a ghost that resembled an animated bed sheet with holes cut out of it for facial features. It was lying on its side, but got up when the human approached.

"o-oh, am i in your way? sorry... i'll move aside if you want." The ghost was already starting to fade before they could reply.

They checked the ghost. Napstablook. This monster didn't seem to have a sense of humor.

"i'm not much of a jokester, but that's okay." Napstablook gave them a soft smile. The human smiled back, and thanked them for letting them passed.

However, before walking through, they asked why Napstablook was in the ruins.

"i usually come here because it's quiet and nobody's around... but sometimes, it's nice to talk to someone."

They bade farewell to the ghost and continued on.

In the next room, they found... a spider bake sale? There were two webs, each with signs on them. There was quite a selection of baked goods, such as web cake, fly candies, and spider biscuits, but the only two things they considered buying were spider cider and spider donuts. They checked their pockets, counted their funds, and decided on buying a jug of cider and two donuts. The put the correct amount for their purchases on the webs under the signs, and some spiders promptly took it, left, and returned with the purchases.

The child was really quite impressed. They weren't particularly familiar with spiders on the surface, nor did they wish to be, but they were quite certain that a bake sale would be far beyond their capabilities.

Not feeling particularly thirsty, they ate the spider donut. It was sweet, and oddly crunchy, but not dry. They didn't want to believe it, but it was made with spiders. They chose to not think about that particular fact too much.

The next room held three Froggits, sitting in row as if it were very important for them to do so. The human payed close attention to their words, thinking it was another puzzle, but made no sense of it. They did, however, find an ant-sized Froggit in a crack in the wall, and it waved at them cordially.

Trying to fall into the right room was quite fun. So fun, in fact that they decided to fall into all the rooms to see what was in them. They found Napstablook again, as well as two friendly Vegetoids. The Vegetoids offered them a snack, something that seemed quite common for them to do, and though they were a bit concerned about plants offering plants for them to eat, the Vegetoids seemed enthusiastic, and who were they to refuse?

They also found a faded ribbon, and, taking a liking to it, tied it to the stick they were carrying, thinking of things they could do with it later. The tail of a kite, perhaps. Or threaded into sneaker laces. Maybe jt could be tied on a stuffed animal. The thought filled them with determination.

The puzzle with the buttons made no sense to them. They'd read the signs and found the correct buttons to press, but after they moved forward, they seemed to be teleported to the beginning again. The buttons weren't even particularly well hidden. But being the determined child they were, they simply kept going, and lo and behold, there was an end to it.

There was a tree, surrounded by fallen leaves. And behind the tree was Toriel, smiling proudly.

"I'm glad you made it safely, my child" she said, "The pie is cooling, and you should get some rest."

She led the child by the hand to a bedroom. They inspected it curiously, then went to bed.

When they awoke, they'd discovered that Toriel left a slice of pie for them. They took it with them, then headed to the living room, where Toriel sat by the fire, reading a book.

"Good morning, my child. ...I suppose you want to be moving on..."

They affirmed that Toriel had guessed correctly.

Toriel looked to the side. "I'd hoped you would stay... the Underground isn't a safe place for human child..." She looked back at the human and closed her eyes with a smile. "But it seems there will be no stopping you, would there? ...Take care."

Toriel embraced the human as if she were their own mother, though the human could not truthfully say that they've been hugged like that before.

"Farewell, my child."

The human let go of Toriel, walked down the stairs, through the corridor, and out of the ruins. They walked up the gradual slope and came to a clearing identical to the one they'd seen at the beginning of the ruins, stood on it, and looked up at a clear blue, cloudless sky.

Then they left, and the door closed behind them.

It was snowing. And yet it was still underground. Trees loomed on either side of them and a path stretched out before them.

They walked along the path, stepping past a twig that had fallen on it. It was a long path, but wide enough for a car, if they had one, which they did not.

They heard a snap, and spun around. The twig was broken, but there was nothing to be seen. Maybe an invisible car had driven over it. No, that was silly. It couldn't have been.

They continued on, seeing no point in investigating further. Something shifted behind them and they spun around again. Still nothing. The idea of there being an invisible car seemed less ridiculous.

The child came to a bridge, framed by what appeared to be some sort of unfinished gate. Then they froze as every hair on the back of their neck stood stiff as something approached them from behind. They heard a voice, low and menacing.

"Human. Don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around, and shake my hand."

They turned around, and a hooded figure extended a hand, which they grabbed warily.

...There was a whoopee cushion in it, and it make a loud farting sound as the two hands squeezed it. The figure took its hood off. It was a skeleton, the same height as the human, sporting a large grin and a hoodie."

"heheh... the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's ALWAYS funny. anyways, you're a human, right? that's hilarious. i'm sans. sans the skeleton. im actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but... y'know... i don't really care about capturing anybody."Sans didn't stop grinning. "now my brother, papyrus... he's a human-hunting FANATIC. hey, actually, i think that's him over there." The skeleton nodded past the bridge."i have an idea. go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars to wide to stop anyone."

They turned around and looked at it while they and Sans walked through. Well, the bars would be wide enough to stop an invisible car, at least.

On the other side of the bridge was a station of some sort, a couple rocks, and a lamp.

"quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp."

They didn't know why there were told to go behind the lamp, but whatever, they did anyways.

Soon, a taller skeleton arrived, wearing some sort of costume.

"sup, bro?" said Sans, grinning.

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT'S 'UP' BROTHER. YOU HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES FOR DAYS! WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?!"

This new skeleton, Sans' brother Papyrus, was really loud, and the human couldn't help but wince a little behind the lamp.

Sans' grin did not fade. "staring at this lamp," he replied, "it's really cool. do you wanna look?"

"NO!" yelled the taller skeleton, "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR..." he trailed off, as he looked towards the lamp. "SANS."

"don't have time for me bro? c'mon, you've been talking to me fore the past three minutes." Sans was still grinning.

"SANS. IS THAT... A HUMAN?" Papyrus pointed at the lamp.

"looks like a lamp to me. thought you said you didn't have time."

But before Sans could get an answer, Papyrus had already scooped up the human from behind the lamp and swung them around in a hug.

"NYEH HEH HEH! GREETINGS HUMAN! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT IS SO VERY GOOD TO MEET YOU! COME! I HAVE PREPARED MANY PUZZLES FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT!" The skeleton spoke as if the human were an old friend they had been waiting in great anticipation for, though he had just introduced himself.

Had the human been able to move their arms, they would have covered their head.

Sans' grin faltered. Something was wrong. Papyrus was intent on capturing a human, wasn't he? And yet he was acting oddly. He knew that there was an anomaly, causing timelines to start and stop and shift back and forth... But he dismissed the idea of it being the reason for his brother's behaviour. The look on the kid's face wasn't one of recognition. It was one of surprise and shock. They were as clueless as he was.

But then why...?

Sans followed his brother and the human, who had since been set down to walk beside the tall skeleton.

This didn't make sense, and the thought of figuring it out filled Sans with anticipation.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hahaha, pacing? What is pacing! Sorry if Sans is OOC.

I'm joking. I copied most of his lines from the game.

Sorry if he's OOC anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** No, I did not forget this fanfiction. And even though it is less of a priority than Batmantale, which has over a quarter of a hundred reviews, there are still people who want to see more of this.

* * *

Papyrus' puzzles were actually really great. The human spent hours trying to move the frozen spaghetti before leaving the area. They'd managed to melt and untangle one whole strand with nothing but a stick, a plastic knife, a faded ribbon, their own body heat, and sheer determination.

The puzzles with the X's and O's were neat too, and the human loved skating around on the ice, trying to hit each X exactly once. After the first time they finished that one, they even asked the skeleton to set if up again so they could see if they could find another solution. Papyrus was, of course, more than happy to oblige.

The loud skeleton cheered them on at every puzzle, and congratulated them for solving every one. As with the ruins, other monsters smiled and waved at them as they went from puzzle to puzzle, and the human even joined Sans and Snowdrake in telling some ice puns, to Papyrus' chagrin. Over time, the child became accustomed to Papyrus' volume, and grew to enjoy the skeleton's company.

"HUMAN," said Papyrus, after they had solved the elaborate tile puzzle three times, each with a different layout and path, "I WOULD LIKE TO TEACH YOU HOW TO RECALIBRATE PUZZLES. MY BROTHER HAS A FEW PUZZLES OF HIS OWN, BUT HE HASN'T RECALIBRATED THEM FOR DAYS. I THOUGHT YOU'D MIGHT LIKE TO TRY THEM TOMORROW, AND WE COULD RECALIBRATE THEM TOGETHER, SO YOU WOULDN'T BE BORED WHILE YOU WAIT."

The human liked the idea, and agreed to it. Some puzzles were easier than others to recalibrate, and setting them back up with Papyrus proved to be nearly as enjoyable as solving them.

After what was nearly a whole day of puzzle-solving and puzzle-re-calibration, Papyrus offered to carry the human to his house, asking the human if they wouldn't mind having a sleepover. The human had no other place to stay, and though they were willing to stay at the inn, they decided a sleepover would be nice.

Papyrus gave them a full tour of the house. It was... nice, though they couldn't reach the kitchen sink on their own. They asked if they were going to sleep on the couch.

Papyrus looked at the couch, something resembling a frown on his face. "SANS WOULD PROBABLY WANT TO SLEEP THERE... BUT HIS ROOM IS A HORRIBLE MESS, AS IF HIS TORNADO HAD SPREAD ALL OVER IT. I CAN'T POSSIBLY ALLOW YOU TO SLEEP THERE!" The skeleton thought some more, while the human puzzled over the words "his tornado."

"I'VE GOT IT! YOU CAN SLEEP IN MY ROOM!" The skeleton grinned, raising his finger in the air triumphantly.

The human blinked, asking the skeleton if he was alright with that.

"HMM? DO YOU THINK THERE WOULD BE A PROBLEM...? OF COURSE NOT! YOU ARE MY FRIEND, AND I AM PERFECTLY WILLING TO SHARE MY BED WITH YOU. THAT IS, IF YOU'RE ALRIGHT WITH THAT."

And so, not long after, Frisk found themselves in the bathroom, with a set of freshly-cleaned pajamas they were pretty certain belonged to Sans, a borrowed toothbrush, and a spare nightcap. It was odd to see a washroom without a toilet, but come to think of it, they hadn't needed to go to the bathroom once since falling into the Underground. The exact moment they finished changing their clothes, there was a knock on the door.

The human thought for a moment, then asked who was there.

"icy."

They asked the question you probably expected them to ask.

" _icy_ you've gotten pretty close to my bro. when you're done in there, can i talk to you for a moment? i'll meet you at the front door."

Not entirely sure what Sans wanted, but eager to befriend the other skeleton as well, they agreed.

They got out of the washroom, and met Sans in the front door.

"nice outfit, kid." The human wondered if Sans minded that they were wearing his clothes. The skeleton read their face easily.

"don't worry about the clothes. i never wear them anyways. and grillby's doesn't have a dress code either. i noticed you didn't eat any of pap's frozen spaghetti special. you must be hungry."

They were, but it sort of slipped from their mind. They were having so much fun with Papyrus, they hadn't noticed.

"let's go to grillby's. i know a shortcut."

Sans took the human by the hand, and lead them out the door... and directly into Grillby's. The human looked around in awe. Grillby's most definitely wasn't right outside the skeletons' home, but it seemed as if, for that moment, it was. The smell of grease and wet dog filled their nostrils, as well as the aroma of fast food. They recognized the dogs they'd seen outside earlier. Despite the guard dogs being bipedal, the human was reminded of a few dogs they met on the surface, constantly eager for human attention. They looked behind them. Just Snowdin town, with snowflakes drifting lazily onto the ground. Not the inside of a quaint skeleton home.

Sans kept his grin. "fast shortcut, huh?" They walked to the bar, as Grillby's other patrons greeted them both familiarly. Despite what one would logically assume, it seems that Sans bringing the kid to Grillby's was a fairly common sight. Which made no sense, as this was the first time Sans had brought them to the diner. At the bar, was some sort of flame monster. The words that came to mind were "Grillby, a fire elemental. An excellent conversationalist and top-notch cook."

Grillby looked at the two quietly. Sans turned to the human. "here, get comfy," he said, motion the human to a seat. They both sat down, and a farting sound came from the human's seat. They'd really have to look out for whoopie cushions when Sans was around...

"whoops," sans said, as if he wasn't the one who put the cushion there. "watch were you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats. anyway, let's order. whaddaya want?"

They looked at the menu. Some of the options were odd, some of them familiar, and some very obviously meant for the dog guards. They decided to go for fries and a burger. Classic fast food. What child could refuse the allure of crispy, salty fries and a juicy, most-certainly-not-wholesome burger?

"hey, that sounds pretty good." Sans turned to Grillby. "grillby, we'll have a double order of burger and fries.

The fire elemental simply nodded, and walked back to where the human assumed was the kitchen. Excellent conversationalist indeed. Hopefully, they weren't wrong about the cooking.

A moment passed, and Sans scratched the back of his head, the turned to the human.

"so... what do you think of my brother?"

The human took a minute to properly convey exactly how cool they thought Papyrus was. Though the tall skeleton was odd a first, being so excited to see a human, they quickly warmed up to him. They shared a love of puzzles, and they found Papyrus' skill in recalibrating puzzles quite clever. They were definitely excited for the sleepover and another day of puzzle solving. They smirked and chided Sans for trying to scare them by telling them that Papyrus was a "human-hunting fanatic." Unless "hunting" meant "spending a day solving puzzles as if they were best friends" Papyrus didn't seem to try to be hunting any humans at all.

Sans seemed pleased to hear it.

Sometime during the human's enthusiastic gushing about their new best friend, Grillby returned with the burgers and fries.

"here comes the grub." Sans apparently was playing Captain Obvious today. "want some ketchup?"

They shook their head.

Sans shrugged. "more for me." He then took the bottle of ketchup...

...and drank the entire thing, while the human watched, wide eyed.

Sans was, of course, grinning.

Sans started eating, and after the human recovered from the shock of a skeleton drinking an entire bottle of ketchup, they joined him.

They wondered where the food went. And the ketchup. Did it just... disappear? Nothing was falling out of Sans' clothes. Did he actually need to eat? If he had his clothes off, would they be able to see the food pass through his skull, then into his body and... then what? Just... dissolve?

Before the human could come up with a satisfactory answer, Sans started talking to them in between bites. It was hard not to stare at the skeleton's mouth, because, as far as the human could tell, he was just shoving bites of food into his face, not even bothering to open his mouth. And judging from the burger, they were, indeed bites.

"so pap warmed up to ya pretty quickly. you really like his puzzles, don't you?"

They nodded.

"y'know, he's been working really hard to become a member of the royal guard. in fact, just the other day, he was telling me about how he was going to capture a human. that after he caught a human and brought them to the captain of the royal guard, he'd be popular. all his dreams, everything he was working for, training for, would be fulfilled. then suddenly, he stopped talking about capturing humans, and started working on his puzzles more. at first, i thought it was part of his plan to capture a human. that's one of the things puzzles are used for. but as i watched? it seemed like he was getting them ready for someone.

"of course, i didn't realize this until today. after all, who could he be expecting? but then you came, and he acted like he's known you for ages."

A moment of silence passed between them. The human just assumed that Papyrus was naturally welcoming and eager to meet new people.

"so, kid... i wanted to ask..." The room suddenly became dark, and the human could barely see more than the immediately surrounding area. The sounds and smells also faded, except for the smell of food in front of them. "do you know anything about time travel? timelines? anything?"

They shook their head. Another silence fell, then the light and sound returned.

"pap's probably waiting for ya. let's finish up and get back. don't wanna miss the bedtime story. "

So they went back, Sans taking the kid though a shortcut again.

As Sans read "Peekaboo with Fluffy Bunny" to his brother and his brother's new friend, he wondered about what happened.

Thinking about what Sans and the human may have missed filled him with curiosity.

* * *

 **A/N:** And here, we begin to get into the real plot of the story. As well as a certain point I'm trying to make. I'm sure many of you disagree.

I also need to remember to edit that one chapter of Batmantale sometime.


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